Friday, September 16, 2011

In the yunivesiti of laif!


Clara Kuangan epitomises what Grasrut Univesiti of Life is all about.
Affectionately known to all as Mama Clara, this grey-haired elderly mother from Maprik in East Sepik Province was one of the first people to attend a Personal Viability (PV) course some years ago. PV is part of the Grasrut Univesiti of Life education philosophy that has been in taught in PNG for six years now. She says the course has changed her whole life.
Last month she was among more than 60 people from different parts of PNG who paid their way to Madang to attend a symposium at Divine Word University. They talked about how the PV course had helped them. They said it had empowered them to become more productive, to use their brains and hands and the abundant resources around them to help themselves. And they displayed the range of products that they have made or have been using to help themselves prosper financially.
When Mama Clara was asked to speak, she had a message for PNG.
“Do not sit around and beg for handouts. Use your God-given brains, hands, talents and the resources around you to earn a living! It is possible,” she said.
It was heartening to hear this elderly mother speak so positively at a time when PNG is experiencing yet another economic crisis forcing prices of goods to climb, the value of the kina to plunge and worsening law and order problems.
Mama Clara’s message is not new. It has been the favourite topic of politicians and government officials at most ceremonies. Most of them however would have no idea what it means to work for themselves.
Mama Clara lives at Nuigo squatter settlement in Wewak. She turned up at DWU with a range of products she had made that included home-made peanut butter, jewelry, hand bags, hats as well as her prized possession – a hand-made mountain bag. The bag was woven from local fibres abundant in the forests and normally used for making bags and bilums. Mama Clara had little formal education and her industrious skills certainly did not come from any formal training. It all began after she attended the personal viability course run by its founder Samuel Tam in Wewak some years ago. The course opened a door of opportunities she was not aware of previously. It showed her that she could use her traditional bilum-making skills to create other profitable products. Inspired, she tried weaving a ladies hand-bag from the local fibres. It was an instant success. She said suddenly the women in Wewak crowded her home wanting to learn the new skill. She never looked back since.
Helen Paru is another Madang mother who has a flourishing business growing and selling fruit trees and flowers in her backyard. She said she did not realise the opportunities until she attended a PV course in Madang.
There is nothing magical about personal viability. It is basically an integral human development course that is fulfilling the national goals and directive principles in PNG’s National Constitution. The Constitution calls for integral human development, equality and participation, national sovereignty and self-reliance, conservation of natural resources and environment and using Papua New Guinean ways to achieve development.
An official PV leaflet says the course trains people to evaluate and enhance their personal viability. Put simply it makes people aware of their abilities to think and do things especially to help themselves by using the resources around them. It is also a holistic development course which helps people understand their emotions, their physical health, their mental and spiritual selves, as well as to show them how to prosper financially. It helps people to believe in themselves and how to relate to others and to recognise the value of the resources around them and use them to enhance their lives.
While PV is not formally recognised by the PNG Government, it is being welcomed by many organisations as an answer to helping their people. The biggest organisation so far is the United Church of PNG whose Moderator, Rev. Samson Lowa, has directed his bishops to attend PV training and to ensure that its 600,000 strong members must all undergo the course in their congregations.
Lutheran and Catholic churches, NGO groups and major resource developers such as Ok Tedi have also endorsed personal viability training for the people.
There are reasons for the growing attraction to the PV course and the Grasrut Yunivesiti of Life philosophy.
The country’s recurring cycles of economic woes since the early 90s have been worrying many Papua New Guineans. It seems the nation’s successive governments have been unable to control rising poverty levels, unemployment and law and order problems. People are now questioning whether the governments are capable of solving these problems. They are also concerned that the education system is educating people for jobs that are becoming increasingly rare. Instead they are advocating a system that should educate people for life.
For those Papua New Guineans who have come into contact with PV, it has filled a void in their lives. It has developed their confidence and made them believe in themselves. It has shown them that one can succeed despite the social, economic and political problems that face the country.
The course is the brain-child of businessman, Samuel Tam, and is run by group of dedicated volunteers using their own time and resources. Mr Tam, affectionately called Papa Sam by his students, is the person who established the Stret Pasin Stoa Scheme – the most successful small business scheme which has enabled many Papua New Guineans to successfully own and run trade stores. This scheme has been studied and adopted by other Pacific island nations.
Mr Tam urged Papua New Guineans to use their ‘neck-top computers’ that is their brains. He said the brain is 100 million times more powerful than any computer. “Take control of your own destiny. Own yourself. Think and act, do it yourself. Don’t ever let outsiders decide for you.”

Juggling family and education


As I sat amongst the sea of beige, blue and black gowns of the graduands at Divine Word University, my mind drifted back to the day nearly two years ago.
I had been sitting in the office of the President of Divine Word University, Fr Jan Czuba telling him that I was withdrawing from my studies. It was only a few months into my third year studies towards a bachelor’s degree in journalism but I was convinced that I had no choice but to leave.
My two-year-old daughter had been diagnosed with what the doctor believed was tuberculosis, which had caused one of her lungs to collapse. The doctor had recommended that the child be interned in the hospital for treatment so that the medical staff could ensure proper medication and monitor her condition.
It was the biggest challenge my family faced since my decision to resume studies.
On January 26, 2000 I resigned from my job as Editor of the Papua New Guinea Magazine, a Post-Courier publication that I had helped establish, to return with my family to Madang. I wanted to pursue my studies in Bachelor of Arts in Journalism at Divine Word University. It was a key decision in my life, to leave a good job, and its benefits, and to take my young family of six children and head into an uncertain future.
I was going to pay for my education and look after my family from what I had saved up over my 15 years of working with the media. My wife and I knew it was going to be tough.
In Madang my family settled in with my mother at Rempi village about 40 kilometres along the Northcoast of Madang while I had a room on the University campus but commuted regularly to be with my family.
It was not easy for my children who had all grown up in Port Moresby to adjust to village life but after a while they did. They found more freedom to move around in the village unlike the fenced properties with security guards we had in Port Moresby. They swam in the sea, fished, walked to school, and got used to eating yams and bananas.
My wife and I were able to convince the doctor that we could keep our daughter at home and administer the medication ourselves. The doctor finally agreed that we could take the medication and administer it at home, but to follow strict dosage times.
It was then that I decided to withdraw from school. I couldn’t bear going to school during the week while my wife struggled with my sick daughter at home.
Fr Jan was immediately concerned and did not think withdrawing from studies was a good idea. He thought I might never get the chance to go back to school again. Instead, he came up with another offer to ensure my daughter received medical help while I continued to study. He offered to sponsor my studies, which would include accommodation on campus near the hospital and to join the teaching staff after graduation. I agreed since I had no immediate plans for future employment. My wife and I were grateful for the offer and moved on to the Divine Word University campus to be near the hospital.
The tuberculosis treatment was daily for six months with regular visits to the doctor for check-up. Each morning at six we had to wake little Thelma up and forced the nasty tasting medicine down her throat ignoring her energetic struggles and wailing.
Then my three children and I would rush to the road to catch the PMV to school in town. We had moved our three children to a school in town in anticipation for eventually moving DWU campus. My daughter finished classes at lunch so I would go pick her up then put her on a PMV back to the village. Then in the afternoon, do the same again for my two boys. It was a constant worry that neither I nor their mother was able to travel with them regularly. And when my children fell sick, there mother would bring them to the hospital for treatment and I would meet them in my free periods or travel home with them. I still do not know how I managed to study and did my assignments as well as pass the exams. The hardships were trying at times for my wife and myself and sometimes our relationship became strained when I couldn’t be with the family when they needed me because of study commitments.
After six months of treatment, the doctor finally said she was healed although her chest deformity would always be there. It was a great relief.
When we moved onto the campus, we squeezed into the small two bedroom unit at Lakelodge. Although, it was crowded, we were grateful that we could be near the hospital and also near study facilities for myself. My children who were used to having their own rooms in Port Moresby, slept in the living room and only once reminded me that after I finished schooling, they wanted a bigger house so that they could have their own rooms again.
So it was with great relief that I finally was able to graduate. To receive the highest award for academic excellence came as a pleasant surprise. As I walked up to receive my awards, I though of my wife Lilian, and children, Fr Jan Czuba, Daisy Taylor, Fr M’lack, Peter and Anna Muriki, Patricia and Michael Sariwa, and my close and extended family in the village who no doubt would be equally proud.

Ramu valley magic









Ever wondered what it would be like to have a spectacular view of a mountain range from your backyard? Or better still see Mt Wilhelm, PNG’s highest peak, from the comfort of your verandah?
Such panoramas of PNG’s geographical landmarks are not easily accessible by most people. However, people living along the flat stretches and foothills of the Ramu valley are daily rewarded by spectacular ‘million dollar’ views.
On clear days, especially with the El Nino dry in the region, they are greeted each morning by the towering jagged peak of Mt Wilhelm, the highest mountain in PNG.
Few kilometres south, they marvel at a unique shaped Mt Otto sprouting like a huge mushroom in their backyard.
They also have a choice of the entire Bismarck range providing a daily backdrop while they go about their chores of raising cattle and gardening.
Most office workers would give anything for such picturesque views to substitute their boring office walls.
The traffic travelling through the valley to Lae, Madang or the Highlands also share this spectacular scenery, but only for brief moments as they hurry on to their destinations before nightfall.
The view in the Ramu Valley is alive and changes by the hour. In the morning the mountains are crystal clear, their details sharply illuminated by the light of dawn. As the day heats up, the view becomes hazy and the outlines of the mountains fade into the blue sky. After midday, the clouds began cluster around the highest peaks until they cover the top of the ranges.
The Ramu Valley is enclosed by two mountain ranges. They are the Finisterre towards Rai Coast and Bismarck, which is the gateway into the Highlands.
Fresh mountain breeze blow continuously through the valley floor rustling kilometres of kunai grass and cooling off the hot Madang sun. Few trees and shrubs dot the grassland as far as the eyes can see unlike the heavily forested mountain ranges.
The early route into the Ramu Valley from Madang has been through Rai Coast and over the Finisterre ranges. This is the route that the famous Russian naturalist and explorer Nikolai Mikluoho-Maclay had wanted to explore when he stayed at Bongu in1877. However, in his diary he wrote that attempts to get the people of Bongu to help him venture over the Finisterre were unsuccessful. The people regarded Maclay as a supernatural being, but that was not enough to convince them to risk travelling beyond the mountains and into the unknown. He never got to see the Ramu valley leaving the honor for explorers after him.
Pioneer missionary Fr William Ross used the route when he began his famous walk into the Western Highlands from Madang.
Today the highway out of Madang cuts through steep mountains into Begesin and Usino before dropping into the valley.
Most parts of the highway remain unsealed in the mountains despite a European Union funded project to upgrade and seal the road from 1998 to 2002. As a result, the mountain passes sometimes become inaccessible during rainy seasons. This has implications for a multi-million oil palm project planned in the valley. It means the terminal for the project will now have to be situated in Lae rather than Madang, causing the latter province to lose out on export revenue from a project in the province.
Travellers are well served with numerous little roadside markets selling roasted corn, fresh coconuts, watermelons, and betel nut. A bigger market at Usino junction sells a variety, which include fruits, vegetables and greens.
The long stretch of sealed road in the Ramu provides a smooth and enjoyable ride. However, drivers risk falling asleep on the wheel while driving at high speed. Fatal accidents have happened and travellers are warned to be careful. They can take regular breaks at roadside markets or refresh themselves at one of the many sparkling creeks that gush from the mountains into the Ramu River.
Unfortunately, armed hold-ups have also been experienced along the Madang Ramu highway section and travelers should always take precautions. Travelling in a convoy is a good way of discouraging hold-ups.
The Ramu Valley is suited for agriculture and cattle farms prosper for miles. Farms at Dumpu already provide fresh meat for supermarkets in Madang and other urban centres. Customers can also buy whole beasts at the farms.
Vast spaces of land are still available waiting for the time when government’s agriculture policies are translated into farmlands.
Ramu Sugar already prospers in the southern most part of the valley and there are plans for an oil palm project as well.
Settlers in the valley raise pigs, cattle, poultry, ducks and geese. The rivers are also reputed to hold gigantic catfish that can tear nets and the best way to catch them is by spearing them!
The Ramu nickel project is also in the area however its development is delayed as an investor is still being sought. If the project goes ahead it will bring a lot of changes into the mostly uninhabited area of the Madang Province.
The valley’s potential for commerce is immense and local tribes who foresee the benefits are currently fighting battles in court over land ownership.
If you have an opportunity to travel to or from Madang on the highway, take it. You will enjoy the experience and appreciate the country better.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Madang history captured in new book


IT was the famous Russian nobleman and scientist Nikolai Mikloucho-Maclay who named the Madang coastal area the “Archipelago of Contended people”.
Maclay was the first European to spend more than two years between 1871 and 1883 living amongst the Rai Coast (Maclay Coast) people (“Rai” being the native corruption of “Maclay”) and explored the coastal and interior areas of the province.
Other explorers, missionaries and government officers were also attracted to the area, among them, the late District Officer Kassa Townsend who wrote the following in his diary in 1922.
“Madang was, and perhaps still is, the most attractive township in the Territory. Built around the indented shore line, just inside the narrow entrance to its perfect harbour, the various bungalows and offices that Imperial German Government and several German companies had built stood surrounded by lawn and shrubs in profusion.”
The history of Madang has now been documented in a 450-page book titled Madang by author and former kiap James Sinclair who has authored many books on PNG subjects. The book was commissioned by Sir Peter Barter and Sir John Middleton and published by Divine Word University Press.
With the foreword written by Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare, the book traces the story of Madang since the contact with the outside world beginning with Maclay up to recent times.
Compiled from formal records and anecdotes taken from those associated with the development of the province and town, the book provides a colourful and interesting, yet sometimes tragic, insight into the early years. The accounts come from an assortment of people – explorers, missionaries, plantation owners, miners, fortune hunters, Chinese entrepreneurs and government officials.
The establishment and development of the German colony in Madang was the direct result of power play thousands of miles away in Europe between the British and Germans who were carving up the Pacific region for themselves. The Germans established the famous Neuguinea Compagnie and arrived at Port Constantine on Rai Coast on October 11, 1884. Thus began the long contact Madang - then known as Friedrich-Whilhelmshafen by the Germans - was going to have with the colonisers.
The German connection still lives on today in names such as Dallman (Passage), Bismark (sea/range), Alexishafen (mission), Hagen (Mount) and Hatzfeldthafen (mission) and many of the plantations they established still exists today. The Germans were even responsible for the name “Madang” which they took from a little island at Finschhafen where the German settlement in New Guinea began.
Sadly the manner in which the Neuguinea Compagnie went about acquiring land for its plantations in Friedrich-Whilhelmshafen caused deep resentment amongst the local people.
A Compagnie official Joahann Stanislaus Kubary acquired vast tracts of land for plantations from unsuspecting local people paying for it with trade goods such as knives, mirrors, tomahawks, coloured beads and cloth. He purchased from the Bilibil (Bilbil) Island people all the land on the main land from the Gogol to Gum Rivers and the interior. He did the same for the land from Gum River to the present day Madang town purchasing it from the Yabob Island people. Of course, all the land did not belong to the Bilibil and Yabob people and it was obvious they did not understand what Kubary was doing. Judge F. B. Phillips corrected the blatant injustice in 1932 however; the resentment caused by the original land grab is still being felt today.
Unlike Maclay, the Germans and the local people did not get on well together. The Germans whose motives were to acquire land for business and profit soon met with resistance. The people understandably resented the acquisition of their land and did not want to submit to the authority of the colonisers. They despised having to provide labour to build roads and plantations in lieu of head taxes that they were ordered to pay. Plantation managers and workers were attacked and the Germans retaliated harshly by carrying out punitive raids on the villages.
The situation came to head in 1904 when the local people plotted secretly to attack and kill all the Europeans living in town including the District Officer. However, the plot was betrayed by a local man and armed police managed to foil the attack. Justice was harsh. The ringleaders were rounded up and executed by police firing squad and the remaining Siar island people were exiled to the mainland.
The book also includes chapters on the work of the Lutheran and Divine Word missionaries who apart from spreading the Good News also concentrated on providing formal education and health care for the health of the people.
Much of the early history in the book is told from the colonialists’ point of view for the simple fact that they had kept proper records of their activities. Therefore, if the book suffers from anything, it is the heavy concentration on the experiences of the early colonialists. The absence of the voice of the indigenous people is noticeable throughout the chapters and only appears towards the era after independence.
The book records all the major events beginning with Maclay’s contact through to the war years and development up until Independence. Of course, it is not possible to record in detail all the events in the history of Madang and the life and experiences of people like Maclay, the Lutheran and Divine Word missionaries, the work of the patrol officers and other influential people like Yali are recorded in detail elsewhere.
There are numerous colourful characters and some of their experiences are told throughout the book. One example is the story of the bronze Hagen Eagle that was erected over the grave of Acting Administrator of German New Guinea, Curt von Hagen in the early 1900s. In the 1950s the Eagle suddenly appeared in Mt Hagen and became the symbol of the town. According to former Madang resident Hec Longmore, the eagle was found by a patrol officer in Saidor and brought to Madang. It ended up with Longmore on his verandah where it seemed to have caused a lot of entertainment. Longmore says:
“People were always trying to lift it. I used to bet young blokes twenty quid if they could carry the Eagle from my verandah to the Madang Hotel bar. It was solid bronze, must have weighed at least 130 pounds . . . it wasn’t the weight, it was the awkward shape. One young German bloke carried it to the hotel, and dropped it on Flo’s bar, and broke it! Flo charged me twenty quid to get a new sheet of laminex …”
The book is illustrated by an interesting collection of photographs and the contemporary painting on the cover by internationally renowned Madang artist Larry Santana adds a local touch making it a valuable record of history of the province and a collector’s item. To get a copy of Madang inquire at Divine Word University or the Madang Resort, or log onto info@dwu.ac.pg.

Battle for democracy in the friendly isles


In 1968, a young Tongan man arrived in the territory of Papua and New Guinea as a youth worker with the Methodist Church in Rabaul.
Kalafi Moala, then a restless 19-year-old looking for meaning and purpose in life, had opted out of studies in New Zealand to pursue missionary work.
He spent four years in Rabaul and still treasures the experience in PNG.
“It was a part of my growing up, a search for answers which I found in PNG.”
His time in the territory was the beginning of a journey that would eventually see him become a key figure in the dramatic reforms that are happening to the system of government in his island kingdom of Tonga.
Meeting him at Penang in Malaysia last month at the Asian Media Information and Communication (AMIC) conference, the big friendly Tongan with a hearty grin and a booming voice seemed an unlikely person to be advocating revolutionary changes in his country.
Spend a moment with him and you will see why. His sociable demeanour will soon have you associating him with the stereotypical imagery of Tonga – that of friendly tropical islands filled with happy contented people.
However, there is a serious side to Moala. And back in his homeland, things have not been quite so ‘friendly’ for some time now. In fact, this is what he had travelled half way around the world to Malaysia to talk about.
Moala is the founder and publisher of Taimi ‘o Tonga (Times of Tonga) newspaper which has been in production for the last 17 years.
It never occurred to him that setting up an alternative newspaper in Tonga to the established media owned by the government and churches would be a risky endeavour.
His aim then was to offer an alternate voice to the majority of commoners (ordinary people) in the Kingdom and to challenge the absolute power of the King and the nobles who ruled the kingdom.
The Kingdom of Tonga is made up of 171 islands with a population of 100,000 living in Tonga and 140,000 outside of Tonga. Of those outside, 70,000 reside in US, 41,000 in New Zealand and 29,000 in Australia. It has a constitutional monarchy government with the highest executive power vested in the Privy Council which is made up of the royal appointed cabinet and is presided by the King (or his appointed representative).
Parliament is made of 30 lawmakers – 12 are occupied by cabinet ministers and two governors appointed by the King; nine representatives of the 33 noble titleholders; and nine representatives elected by the rest of the population. A prime minister appointed by the King heads up the cabinet.
The structure of the government makes Tonga an authoritarian, undemocratic country, under almost absolute rule of a monarch, whose wishes is often regarded as ‘divine’ and must be obeyed.
Unlike elsewhere in the Pacific, in Tonga political power and domination is guaranteed perpetually by birth to an elitist family who have used the power structure to make themselves wealthy at the expense of their ordinary people.
The establishment of the independent Taimi O Tonga immediately posed a challenge to the ruling elites who had no control over the paper. The Government’s response was ruthless and unrelenting aimed at crushing and silencing the dissenting voice forever. Moala and his Taimi O Tonga bore the brunt of a regime bent on maintaining power and status quo.
Over the course of the 17 years, Moala found himself unlawfully imprisoned, was banned from his country of birth for four and half years, subjected to death threats and other indignities, prosecuted on drummed up charges; his newspaper office in Nuku’alofa raided by police over 12 times in a 3 year period; his colleagues detained several times for many hours for questioning; and eventually the government amended the freedom of speech and press freedom clause of the 130 year old constitution in order to introduce new media and newspaper legislations that would ban Taimi ‘O Tonga from being published and distributed in Tonga.
The persecution would have broken a lesser man, but not Moala. Instead the government’s repressive actions to silence him only strengthened and convinced him and his Tongan readership and supporters that what he was doing was right.
Amongst the many charges against him and his newspaper, were ones associated with articles ran by the paper which were deemed ‘seditious, inciting violence, causing disaffection for the King’, and so on. Yet those articles were normal interviews with church ministers, academics, and a column pointing out the inconsistency in the King’s decision to open a cigarette factory in Tonga despite the fact that he had campaigned against smoking for the last 12 years. In PNG and other Pacific democracies, these articles would have hardly raised an eyebrow.
Taimi ‘O Tonga also challenged the infamous royal economic schemes of King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV, which was losing millions of dollars for Tonga and, besides causing acute embarrassment, also cost the country economically.
“Our king is well known for a host of failed projects or simply plans that never got off the ground for one reason or another,” Moala said.
He said these projects range from bringing toxic and nuclear waste to store in Tonga, building oil refineries for Iranian crude oil, bringing old tyres from USA to be burned in Tonga for fuel, changing sea water to fresh water and using the process to generate electricity, starting “Tongan agricultural projects” in Malaysia, PNG and Hawaii, investing the country’s trust fund in high risk insurance which ended losing US$26 million, registering of ships flying the Tongan flag which some ships ended up carrying arms and personnel suspected of terrorism, off-shore banking, his insistence to have a national airline which recently went bankrupt and is estimated to cost the country over $50 million, and many such failed schemes.
He said one of the most oppressive assumptions made by the ruling elite was that commoner people are not only ‘stupid’ and ‘barbaric’ but they do not know what is good for them. So the ruling elite must decide what is good for people.
Moala and Taimi ‘O Tonga’s battle for changes in Tonga finally began to produce results. In the last two years, there has been progress in Tonga towards reform.
“This started when we took the government to court over the Constitutional amendments and the new media and newspaper legislations”, Mr Moala said.
In 2004, the Supreme Court of Tonga overturned the Constitutional amendments and declared unconstitutional the new media and newspaper laws. The judicial decision not only ended the legislated control of the media by government, but also enabled Taimi O’ Tonga and other independent media to operate in Tonga.
“It started a series of events that took place having a domino effect, in which the powers at be and the country have become more open toward greater freedom and political reform,” he said.
This year there have been dramatic changes in Tonga. A new Prime Minister Dr Feleti Sevele became the first commoner Prime Minister appointed in Tonga, who is also an elected Member of Parliament and one of the leaders of the pro-democracy movement. The country has also witnessed several major protest marches averaging over 10,000 marchers, a crunching civil service strike demanding pay rises of up to 80 per cent, a hiking of the lowest level of civil service pay so as to keep up with the raises imposed by the highest levels on themselves.
Several ministers were asked to resign, and a new crop of ministers was appointed to form a new cabinet more open to reform. Three of these ministers were elected members of Parliament as people’s representatives.
Moala said Tonga is entering a new era were the government is seizing the initiative for reform and are working to reconstruct Tonga politically and economically to reflect a more democratic structure.
“The issue now is no longer whether there is going to be reform but that reform is taking place right now, and it is only a matter of time when elected officials will be running the government, making government in Tonga finally accountable to the people.”
Looking back Moala says: “The last 17 years have been fulfilling.”
He has written a book about his experiences titled Island Kingdom Strikes Back, which was published by Pacmedia in New Zealand in 2002. Today he lives with his family in the US while Taimi O Tonga is being produced in New Zealand and circulated in Tonga, New Zealand, Australia and US. He is writing his second book titled In search of the friendly Islands, which is about Tonga.

Islanders struggle to survive in settlements


Little Walter Iarakau staggered home from the shadows of the coconut plantation. His tiny naked body stooped under the weight of the large sack of coconut slung over his shoulders. His skinny arms and legs, bulging stomach and large pale eyes showed he is under-nourished and sick. But he has little choice. He must work if he is to eat.
Walter is an orphan who lives with his grandfather at the new Manam settlement on Potsdam Plantation near Bogia in Madang. His parents and only sister were killed in a rampaging flood of boiling lava from the Manam volcano eruption in December, 1996. They were among 13 Budua villages killed.
His people can do little to help him except offer an occasional plate of food. They too are struggling to survive in harsh conditions with food shortages, no proper water supply, no services and no means of earning money.
The people are bitter and angry. Almost four years after they were evacuated, they have not been able to find a permanent home promised to them by the Government.
“Many of our people are suffering, sick from hunger and poor water supply,” said Colin Bade, Budua village leader and Yabu Council member.
“The Provincial Government has abandoned us. As a leader in the community, I’m very sad.”
In September last year, after waiting for almost three years at the crowded camp at Bogia station, the refugees finally moved into Potsdam. This is one of the four plantations bought by the National Government under Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan in 1995 at the cost of more than K1.2m along the coast at Bogia to resettle the disaster victims. The plantations are Potsdam, Asuramba, Mangem and Malagere.
But the settlers have encountered more problems at Potsdam.
“The resettlement is supposed to go with infrastructure. But the Provincial Government had no plan to resettle us,” member Bade said.
The refugees now find themselves isolated from services such as education, health, safe water supply, land for gardening and resources to build houses. They are also facing constant food shortages.
“We have no food. You can see my garden around me here,” said Adolpha Bule, 29, indicating tiny plots of sweet potato, casava, taro and bananas growing around her small hut.
She and her husband have six children to feed plus extra mouths driven to their doorsteps by hunger.
“Our people continue to faint from lack of proper nourishment,” she said.
“The kaukau (sweet potato) is not ready but I am already digging them up,” she said holding up a tiny fibrous pink root.
“We used to be supplied rations,” Mr Bade said. “But the last rations were supplied on May 23 this year. The Government did not check whether we had food or had settled in well.”
The Government’s resettlement plan on the plantations was for the settlers to sub divide the plantation into blocks for each family. The blocks would have enough land for houses and gardens, and families could also harvest coconuts on their block for money. However, the purchase of the plantations have attracted other problems.
“Outsiders are moving in to take control of the copra. We need urgent help in moving out the intruders,” Bade said.
Instead of blocks for each of the 57 families, the settlement is lumped together in one large area. To the north and south of the Potsdam settlement, local people are claiming ownership of the plantation, thus preventing the settlers to use land and coconuts from the rest of the plantation for their needs.
“We have been given the okay to make copra but we cannot. We need police help to move out the intruders,” Bade said.
At the moment the settlers are sharing the few coconut palms around their settlement.
“We make about one bag of copra for each family. That’s about K25 a bag. It is not enough,” said Mathew Boamera, 34, married with seven children.
“We have to go all the way to Madang to sell our copra. Transportation cost is K7 one way and that does not leave enough even for one bag of rice,” Mr Boamera said.
Francis Bule agrees. “I came back with only K10,” he said after meeting transport and other costs from the K22 he received from his copra. “That caused problems with my wife.”
Mr Boamera has no money for school fees. Two of his children are living with wantoks and going to school at Bogia about three and half hours walk away. They are considered luckier than some 60 settlement children who have no school to attend.
“My son says they are going to be expelled for non payment of fees,” Mr Boamera said. He owes the school K105.
“There is no way to get the money to pay . . . They know our situation but they do not want to help us,” he said desperately.
Three people have died, one infant and two adults from what villagers say is malaria. They could not get medical help in time.
“We carry our children and walk to Bogia when they are sick. If we take off at 8am we arrive at about 11:30am,” said Mr Boamera.
“When more than one child is sick we struggle. Sometimes when we are too sick, we just stay and hope to get better,” said Mrs Adolpha Bule.
Water is also a problem.
“See these,” one settler bared his chest to reveal patches of ringworms. “I never had this on the island.” He blamed the wells they have dug which lie idle. People are walking a fair distance to a creek to fetch drinking water and to wash.
Meanwhile, three donated water tanks sit idle in the settlement.
“We do not have iron roofs to catch water,” Bade said.
In the last decade, PNG has experienced three major national disasters besides the nationwide drought. There were two volcano eruptions on Manam and in Rabaul and the tidal wave destruction in Aitape which killed more than 2000. The Government has responded positively to Rabaul and Aitape disasters setting up authorities to take care of resettlement, rehabilitation, infrastructure and provision of services to the victims. No such authority has been set up for Manam.
“The Madang Governor, Jim Kas, promised the people to look at disaster allocation in 2001 budget for Manam,” said Manam Island people’s representative and spokesman, Peter Muriki. “The people wanted a fund to be set up for potential disaster on Manam. They also wanted a Manam Disaster Authority to be set up.”
Manam island villages have petitioned the national government early this year through the Madang Governor’s office. In their petition they are asking for a disaster plan for Manam, for the status of resettlement on the four plantation areas, for a Manam disaster authority to be set up, for a review of school fees and educational needs, and for an audit of all funds and goods given during the Manam disaster appeal.
“We have had no response since,” said Mr Muriki.
The Acting Madang Governor, Pengau Nengo, has promised to immediately look into the settlers problems. Assuming office recently following the suspension of Madang Governor Jim Kas, Mr Nengo admitted he was not aware of the situation.
“These are citizens of Madang and we must assist them,” he said. “The Provincial Government gives full support for the resettlement of the islanders.”
“I will talk with the administration and if we need to enforce the rule of law, we will bring the police up there,” he said regarding problems of local people claiming parts of Potsdam plantation.
He said if genuine landowners are unhappy then it is a sensitive issue and we have to sit down and sort it out.
“We must make sure that people affected must be taken care of. We have to sort this problem out politically, and administratively to allow the islanders to live a life worthy of a people.
“I do not want to see citizens of Madang suffer,” Mr Nengo said.
For little Walter Iarakau, help can not come quick enough. Being an orphan in a normally caring Melanesian society alienated and struggling to survive, he is suffering from neglect, with no parents to feed, cloth and care for him. He has known no happiness, nor a childhood, and there is little chance he will ever get an education. That is if he survives the sicknesses that threaten his young life.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Bamboo bands mark an era in Madang music

Siar bamboo band.
If you attend an important event or a social occasion in Madang province today, you may still be entertained by a bamboo band.
Bamboo band music was a major feature of the province in the 70s up until the mid 80s when this style of music faded into silence. At one stage, the province was identified with bamboo band music rivaling places like Bougainville and the Solomon Islands where the style of music had its origins.
Bamboo music, however, is not foreign to Madang. The province is rich with abundant bamboo species that have numerous other uses apart from music. In the past, Madang had a variety of traditional bamboo music from some of its 164 language groups. Two distinct forms of traditional bamboo music are still found along the north coast and inland river areas and the hinterlands south of the province. The northern villagers used the large bamboo flutes in the sacred music associated with spirits while those in the south stamp hollowed bamboo trunks on the ground while dancing. Smaller v-notched bamboo flutes and the jaws harp are also popular bamboo music instruments used throughout the area.
Award winning Kalibobo bamboo band of Sogeri, 1978.
The modern bamboo bands were introduced to the province by Bougainville students at the Madang Teachers College in the early 70s. The bands consisted of guitars, ukuleles and sets of bamboos that accompanied the singing. The villages nearest to the college were first to use bamboos in their string bands.
The recordings of the Madang Teacher College bamboo band were made popular by Radio Madang and it was not long before the style of music began spreading to outlying villages.
The original bands were simple using limited bamboos in single sets and the player struck the bamboos with rubber thongs accompanying the guitars. In Madang, it was mainly the Bel language villages that produced most of the bamboo band music. Groups from villages like Siar, Riwo, Malmal and Bilia did recordings with Radio Madang and the emerging commercial music studios. Other music groups in the outlying districts began adding bamboos to their string bands and soon the style of music became popular throughout the province.
The 1970s was also the decade of independence and there were many occasions of celebrations which helped to promote bamboo bands. There were string band competitions and independence song contests, as well as celebrations of important political and social events. Two bamboo band groups from Madang stood out significantly during that period. The Melanesian Bamboo Band was the popular resident band of the Madang Resort and it had wide exposure performing at the resort or on the resort’s tour vessels.
The other group was actually formed out of the province in 1978 by Madang students attending Sogeri National High School. The Kalibobo bamboo band was formed as part of the cultural curriculum promoted at the school and entertained at various venues in Port Moresby. Kalibobo is the popular local name for the coast watchers’ memorial in Madang. The band did a recording with NBC studios in Port Moresby in 1979 which sold more than 10,000 copies earning the group a golden award.
Two songs made popular by the bamboo bands were September 16 which was a song about independence and Wanpela Liklik Meri which was a light hearted tale about a girl who enjoyed the bamboo band music so much on a PMV bus that she missed getting home. These groups did a lot to promote bamboo band music in Madang and thus the province began to be identified with this style of music.
As the years progressed, variations of the bamboo rhythms began to emerge as more bamboos were added to the bamboo sets and the numbers of sets were increased. The rhythms were based on the variations of the popular rock and blues bass runs and it seemed the bamboo bands were set to develop further. However, Madang did not progress down the same path like the bamboo bands in the Solomon Islands and on Bougainville.
In the early eighties another style of music began to hit the airwaves of PNG. These were the electric bands, commonly known in the country as pawa ben (power band), mostly playing cover versions of popular rock and country music. The pawa bens had existed well before the eighties in many parts of the country however, only few of the groups did any recordings. The early recordings were done on vinyl records and were not widely available throughout the country. But as technology developed, cassette tapes and portable tape recorders came on the market and that also helped recording studios to flourish in the country.
In Madang interest in pawa ben music began to grow following similar trends nationwide. Groups such as the YC and Tusbab High school bands, Kanagioi Brothers, Minofrets, Kool Figures and Idmon came on the scene. The Tumbuna Track studio was also established in the town and began concentrating on recording the pawa bens which were becoming popular. Tumbuna Track also promoted locally composed songs as opposed to cover versions of popular western songs. Early recordings of groups like Old Dog and The Offbeats, Kales and later Wali Hits which had major hit songs on radio shifted the interest to the pawa bands. Of course, the CHM Supersound program on EMTV that promoted popular PNG music also played a role in developing interests in pawa bens. Musicians also saw that there was money to be made in this form of music through the sales of their recordings.
In the meantime the bamboo bands fell silent as the aging musicians of the 70s and 80s stopped performing and settled down. There are still a few places such as the Madang Resort were the Melanesian Bamboo band remains a popular feature providing the long established tradition for the guests.
Today the bamboo band musicians of the past still live in the villages and occasionally get requests to perform. When they regroup, they simply identify themselves as the ‘golden oldies’ and entertain with the music of an era that marked the end of colonialism and the beginning of a new future.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Luff’s watercolours capture PNG in the 80s



In 1981, a New Zealand artist, the late Bill Luff, came to PNG to work on a two year contract for the PNG government. The two years eventually extended into a highly successful 10 years in Port Moresby where Luff, an accomplished watercolour painter, captured an interesting array of subjects with the brush and mounted six exhibitions. Luff returned home to New Zealand and in 2005 published a book about his experiences in New Zealand, PNG and South East Asia. A selection of his best paintings also adorn the pages of the book titled: Bill Luff New Zealand Watercolourist and Art Director.


When viewing Luff’s collection of paintings in the book, one cannot help but notice a feature that stands out in all his works - his tenacious attention to details. While one may argue that artists are supposed to pay attention to details, he seems to have gone after subjects that are extremely rich in details. And that did not only include busy streets scenes and market places, but also individuals and groups of people.
Luff came to PNG in 1981 to take up a job as Chief Designer with the then Office of Information at Konedobu in PNG. While he does not say why he chose to come to PNG, it was certainly an inspiring decision for him to be able to work amongst different cultures that provided rich new subjects for his paint brush.
Luff says he initially came on a two-year contract but did not leave the country until 1990. Soon after he arrived there was a successful vote of no confidence against the Somare government and Sir Julius became the prime minister.
Luff writes: “Chan, after a couple of years, closed the ‘Office’ thus terminating all but a few expatriate contracts. Luckily, because I was enjoying much of the Port Moresby lifestyle I was retained to work largely with the PNG Government Printing office.”
Luff was able to mount six successful exhibitions of watercolour paintings in Papua New Guinea and he attributed the success largely to the ‘remarkable variety of subjects.’
“The clothing, habitat and physical characteristics of the nineteen provinces provided me with endless challenges. Port Moresby as capital city had people from all over Papua New Guinea”.
Ironically, Luff recalls that when he first arrived in PNG, he was advised to paint Papua New Guineans in all their traditional regalia.
“As exciting as the masks and decorations looked I did not take this advice”.
Port Moresby provided Luff with most of the subjects and scenery he needed for his paintings. Hanuabada or the Big Village was one subject that really challenged him and he seemed to have relished for it drew the best out of him. The village built on stilts that extended out into the shallows of the Fairfax harbour with a magnificent skyline of the modern Port Moresby high rises in the background, offered a maze of details and slight shades of colours. The scene is a paradise for photographers at anytime but for a painter, even of Luff’s class, it was a daunting task. Yet in his work Morning Reflections, Luff rose to the occasion to capture the village in all its glory at sunrise.
“The subject proved to be one of my most successful in Port Moresby,” Luff writes. “Although Moresby can have breezes and a few strong winds this was on a typically still early morning”.
Luff’s fascination with the Big Village continued with several close-up works and another magnificent painting is Old Canoe, Rusty Roofs and Washing - which is exactly that! The work captures a part of the Big Village which is so realistic, especially the rusting roofs, that one can almost feel the rust in the painting!
The famous Koki Market in Port Moresby also provided the detailed crowd scenes which he loved. Luff picked out bananas, the major food crop in the Central Province and the numerous varieties of them that were displayed and sold at Koki. His eye for detail is sharp yet he says what he assumed to be a bilum full of coconuts actually turned out to be a baby! Koki is also on the water front and the fish market there provided an added variety of sea food subjects.
From crowds to individuals, Luff demonstrates his growing knowledge of identifying the different ethnic groups in PNG and the characteristic traits that make them differ. After some years in PNG, one can generally identify which provinces people are from by their physical appearance and/or by the language or way they speak. His painting titled Polka dots because of the dotted dress worn by one of the subjects, demonstrates his ability to capture the different ethnic groups in Papua New Guinea. In the painting, two women are scouring for shellfish along Ela Beach and just by looking at the picture, one can already workout where each one comes from. The darker woman is from Western and the woman of lighter complexion is from Gulf which are neighbouring provinces yet they look so different!
His book also features a selection of his portrayal of individual Papua New Guineans from mothers, babies, children, to colourful laplaps, meri blouses, bilums, tongs and umbrellas. Again the details that he captures are amazing.
Luff’s ability to handle details is probably best demonstrated, I believe, in his paintings of the famous coconut palms. Coconuts have been one of the most painted subjects in PNG and the palms give the ‘tropical’ look which is usually associated with PNG and the Pacific islands. The physical feature of the palm with its slim trunk, arching fronds, hanging leaves and piles of nuts have been a favourite subject of all budding artists from elementary schools to art colleges. Luff’s ability to capture this majestic palm is exceptional and worthy of study by aspiring artists. An example of his skills is demonstrated in the painting Oro Bay in which the different shades of palms provide the frame for this picturesque bay.
Of course, when painters publish their works in a book, they take the risk that their paintings will not be represented exactly as the original work. Equally, for a printer it is a nightmare trying to capture all shades of colours that are present in a painting. This is often not possible so some of Luff’s paintings appearing in his book may not be a true representation of the original colours as he had captured.
The painting that I believe best presents Luff’s mastery with details is the one that won and international award in London. It is titled Pagoda Street, Singapore which presents an intricate maze of colour and details of life along that street. Singapore, like many Asian cities and communities, provide painters with ideal subjects for their work.
Bill Luff New Zealand Watercolourist and Art Director is available from New Zealand’s Art Centre Bookshop and can be ordered through New Zealand Book Online on website: http://www.booksnz.com/

Encounter at mamboo market

I stepped through the rows of women selling betelnut, coconut and watermelon.
This was Mambu (bamboo) market about 10 kilometres from Madang town in Papua New Guinea along the Madang/Lae highway. The market, I realised, received its name from a clump of bamboo growing nearby and is one of the many to spring up after the closure of the main Madang Town market following trouble between the Sepik settlers and the local Amele people.
The betel nuts were mostly sold in bunches with prices ranging from K1.50 to the biggest bunches costing around K10. I smiled to myself thinking how much more these bunches would fetch in PNG’s capital city, Port Moresby.
My thoughts were interrupted when my eyes came to rest on one of the woman whose face I instantly recognised. The recognition was simultaneously as her face lit up immediately as she saw me.
When was it that I last saw her? My mind raced back some 24 years ago to the primary school nearby.
Yes, it was there that I last saw her. We were classmates for six years at Gum Primary School.
As I muttered a short greeting, she smiled back and greeted me as if she had seen me only yesterday.
Then without a second thought her hands swept together almost half of the small piles of betelnut she was selling and offered them to me.
I was touched. I did not know what to say as I accepted her generosity.
While generosity such as this was common in Madang, I had been away too long in the tough environment of Port Moresby city where almost everything had a monetary price tag on them.
I fumbled around in my pocket and found a K5 note ($2) and handed it to her. It was more than she could have earned for the betelnut which she sold for 10 toea (4 cents) a heap. But I wanted to thank her for showing kindness to a classmate she last saw in 1973.
“Are you Lea?” I asked finally recalling her name. “Yes,” she replied, the tone of her voice registering a faint surprise as if to suggest ‘and who did you think I was?’
And for my trouble, she reached into her bilum and handed me a huge juicy water melon. I made a half hearted attempt to refuse her kindness, but she insisted. Accepting her gifts with countless muttering of thanks, I left. I was rather annoyed with myself for my awkwardness in responding to her generosity and kindness.
As the truck pulled away from Mambu Market, my thoughts returned to Lea. I remembered that she had a sister named Laufin and we were all in the same class from Standard One to Standard Six.
Wrapped in nostalgia, I regretted that we were never particularly kind to the girls. Most often they were the butts of our jokes, while some of the meaner boys would bully or hit them.
I particularly remembered Lea because she was an exceptionally bright student in our class, especially in maths. While thoughts of careers and University education was totally removed from our world in those years, we did have a healthy competition for the top place in our class throughout our education.
I recalled a particular incident in the early years during class quiz between the girls and boys. We, as usual, were trying to put the girls in their place finally drawing the ire of our teacher who happened to be a woman. She challenged us to a maths question: What’s 9x9?
Silence. None of us knew the answer. She then asked the girls and Lea’s hand was up in a flash. She gave the correct answer. I never forgot the answer to 9x9 since.
I had expected her to continue to high school but was rather surprised when she and a number of other top students did not make it.
To this day, I often wondered about that. I remember asking my late father who was a primary school teacher about that. His answer was that the selection for high school that year was not done by the education department but on the recommendation of the school’s board of governors. He said there was unfair selection and so these students missed out.
For Lea, missing out on high school has not affected her generosity and kindness.
She is blessed with a kind heart that has helped make life for others such as an old school mate, a more beautiful experience.

Surviving on the barest minimum


2001

Samson Wans used to go to school at Baitabag Primary School about 15 kilometres north of Madang. He quit school this year because education has become a luxury for him. His father’s K30 per fortnight wage as a labourer at Milinat plantation could not support him and his brother at school. The school fee was K50 for each of them.
“My father could not pay our school fees or even buy our books and pens. He needed the money for things like kerosene, rice, soap and clothes,” said Samson. He was collecting coconuts with his brother to sell for some much-needed cash. There are thousands of Papua New Guineans like Samson who are affected by the minimum wage rate being paid in the country.
Last year the Minimum Wages Board awarded an increase on PNG’s minimum wage from K45 a fortnight to K120 a fortnight. The award, which was gazetted, met stiff opposition from the powerful PNG Employers Federation and the Rural Industries Council who claimed that they could not afford the increase. They said 15,000 to 20,000 jobs would be lost as a result. The employers’ influential lobby has forced the Government to defer the award while trying to negotiate a lesser rate of K30 a week. So far no agreement has been reached.
The minimum wages was adjusted following the devaluation of the kina and the increased cost of living. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase in PNG is estimated at about 100 per cent since 1992 when the minimum wage was last adjusted. This means that since 1992 the prices of most of the goods bought by consumers have doubled.
For Samson’s father and other minimum wage earners in rural areas, the figures mean nothing. The increase in cost of living has hit them hard and K45 can buy very little. A bag of 20-kilogram rice costs nearly K40 and little is left for tinned food, kerosene, soap and PMV fares for two weeks. This is not even considering other costs such as clothing, health and education.
The managers of the companies that pay the minimum wage rate are aware of its inadequacies, yet are wary of the new increase.
Acting Manager of Madang Rural Products (MRP), a poultry company, Sam Gigimat, said his company was struggling at the moment and could not afford to pay the new rate of K120 a fortnight.
“We’ll go under,” he said shaking his head.
MRP pays at a varying rate, depending on sales, starting at a minimum of K45 up to K70 a fortnight when sales are good. This method of payment is allowed under the 1992 wage determination. However, Mr Gigimat is also aware of the needs of his 40 workers at their company site near Yagaum about 10 kilometres from Madang town.
“Each year we give out school fee loans to our workers to help them out.”
The highest amount paid out is K500 and workers repay the loan through deductions from their pay. No interest is charged. Mr.Gigimat said about K3000 is paid out in school fee loans each year.
Madang Rural Products is a self-help venture set up by the major churches and Madang Government to help the local people and therefore, has a policy to return some of its profit to the people.
Peter Muriki is General Manager of Madang Development Corporation, the business arm of the Madang Provincial Government that owns Siar Plantation. Mr Muriki said they paid their labourers K60 a fortnight, which was about K15 higher than the minimum rate. K60 per fortnight is also the government’s new suggested minimum rate currently being negotiated. Yet, Mr Muriki said, this was inadequate to meet the needs of his workers.
“One worker had two kids in school and wanted a loan of K600 for school fees.
“How can you give them such a loan?”
He said the worker even offered his full pay packet for next 10 fortnights to pay back the loan.
“But I could not do that to him.”
Mr Muriki said he helped them to create other ways to earn money like allowing them to sell coconuts.
“The minimum wage rate is not feasible for a family. It’s a bit inhuman,” he said.
The Employers Federation and Rural Industries Council are made up of wealthy companies and plantation owners who are organised and influential. The minimum wage earners, on the other hand, are totally disadvantaged with no union representation and little government support to look after their interest. The PNG Trade Union Congress, which has been fighting hard for the minimum wage earners, has membership mostly from the higher paid urban workers.
General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress John Paska said: “The K45 minimum rate was at best redundant and at worse legitimising slavery.”
Mr Paska said the PNG Employers Federation and other employer groups have admitted that they pay well above the minimum wage rate of K45. He asked why should the minimum wage of K45 be retained?
Mr Paska was also critical of the Rural Industries Council, which is made up of plantation and farm owners. He accused them of living a lavish lifestyle while their workers were suffering.
“As for the Rural Industries Council, what we know is that management of plantations enjoy a lifestyle that would make urbanites embarrassed.”
Meanwhile, Mike Manning from the Institute of National Affairs is in support of the 1992 Minimum Wage Determination law that all workers should be paid according to the ability of each company to pay. In other words, if a company’s profits increased, the workers should be given a share of that increase.
“This has been the law since 1992 and if any workers are not receiving those increases they should blame their unions and themselves for not demanding their legal rights,” Mr Manning said.
However, this law puts the minimum wage earners at the mercy of employers and policing the law from abuse can be difficult.
“In order to make sure that this law is followed and that all workers are being paid a fair wage the Government should give every assistance to the workers and unions to find out what is a fair wage for each firm,” Mr Manning said.
Companies such as Madang Rural Products and Ululan Plantation in Madang have been following this practice.
The Catholic Mission owned Ululan Plantation paid the minimum K45 per fortnight to its 60 workers and when cocoa prices were good, increased payments to K60 or K70 a fortnight.
Former manager, Mr Paias Bokorum said if wages were raised to K120 a fortnight, he would have definitely closed down the plantation.
“Copra prices were very low. We were not earning anything from copra,” he said.
However, he was also aware of the plight of his 60 workers.
“Their fortnight wages only allowed them a 20kg bag of rice. That’s it. They were basically living on their gardens.”
Mr Bokorum said he helped his workers set up their own canteens to supplement their income. Mr Bokorum highlighted another problem. He said there is a general misconception that because plantations are in rural areas, all labourers can make gardens to supplement their meager income. However, that is not true.
Mr Bokorum said his plantation workers did not own land around the plantation but were allowed to make gardens temporarily by the landowners. However, now the landowners want their land back.
“I can see real problems coming soon,” Mr Bokorum said.
Madang Development Corporation’s General Manager Mr Peter Muriki said if employers want to keep the minimum wages down then they must provide their workers alternatives to earn additional income.
“They (employers) have to encourage self-help projects such as poultry, piggery, fishing or even mix farming,” Mr Muriki said.
He said employers must provide the resources for workers to set up and operate these projects.
While the minimum wage debate was on, the politicians in Port Moresby approved themselves a hefty 100 per cent salary increase much to the disbelief of the rest of the nation. An embarrassed Prime Minister Sir Mekere, who only days earlier had rejected the new minimum wage increase of K120 per fortnight, was going to get more than K6, 000 a fortnight. He has temporarily halted the MPs pay rise and sought a review.
The Employers Federation and the Rural Industries Council argue that by keeping wages low, more people can be employed and the money can help them with costs like school fees. However, that has not been the case for Samson Wans and his brother. Their father’s minimum wage and the high cost of education has put them out of school early to join the thousands of other PNG’s unemployed youths.

Mother celebrates son's graduation far away

When Robert Yen, 23, graduated with a degree in Marine Biology at University of Papua New Guinea last Friday, his mother celebrated alone hundreds of kilometres away in Madang.
Not able to pay her way to Port Moresby to witness her son’s special moment, she spent an emotional day at work feeling proud of him yet missing him terribly.
“I wish I was there for his graduation. I miss him. I should be there for him,” said Therese Yen, a librarian at Divine Word University.
“I thank the Lord for everything.”
Her son’s graduation is a just reward for years of struggle for this single mum to raise four sons and educate them after her husband abandoned them for another woman in 1986.
Forty-year-old Therese comes from Dimer village on the north coast of Madang. She trained as a librarian at the former Administrative College in Port Moresby and had worked in public libraries in Port Moresby, Goroka, Lae and Madang before coming to Divine Word.
She said Robert’s father walked out on them in 1986 soon after enrolling Robert to begin his education at Lutheran Day Primary School in Madang. For Therese who lives at Biliau settlement near Madang Airport, it was a physical and emotional struggle for her to raise her four young boys.
“I struggled hard to pay for their school fees,” she said. “I never thought of getting them out of school when things got tough.”
A woman of faith, she drew strength from her prayers.
There were times though when she really needed help, especially with school fees, and she is very grateful to the people who had helped her in those times.
She said the past presidents of Divine Word University helped her by loaning her money from the University for her children’s education.
“I want to thank the presidents and Sr Jeanette Martella who had helped me.
“As a mother, I did not want my children to dropout from the education system.”
She said Ok Tedi sponsored Robert’s studies from Grade 12 at Malala Secondary up until his third year at the University, as part of his father’s condition of employment.
However, last year Therese had to come up with K1, 050 to pay for his final year of studies. She was thankful that in Port Moresby, a relative of Robert had become his guardian.
Their struggles however, only motivated Robert, a gifted student, to excel in his studies. She said one of her proudest moment was after the 1997 Grade 12 exam when Robert became the top student in biology in Papua New Guinea.
She recalled some of the early hardships she had to go through with her son.
She said when Robert was a child he was asthmatic and she had to spend countless hours of sleepless nights caring and worrying over him when he had his asthma attacks.
“I was concerned and took him to the private doctor to treat his asthma.”
She said it cost a lot of money, but she was prepared to pay for his son’s health.
She also recalled the day Robert broke his leg in a soccer game. He was in Grade Six and his friends took him home and left him there until his mother came home after work.
“I struggled to get him to hospital. I had to get relatives to help me.”
During that time, she had to leave work often to attend to him.
Therese described Robert as a quiet, easy going and friendly person.
“He is a great reader yet a humble person.”
“I am very happy for him.
“What he aimed for, he has achieved.”
“Oh, I only wish I was there with him,” she repeated.
Robert is second in the family. Her first son is studying at Lae Technical College, the third is a heavy diesel apprentice who recently graduated from Mount Hagen Technical College and the last is doing Grade 8 at Lutheran Day.

Madang fast tracks universal education


By Patrick Matbob

February 2010

A Papua New Guinea governor has thrown out vernacular education and is fast-tracking universal education for children in his province.
Madang Governor, Sir Arnold Amet, has decided this year to teach only English in elementary schools and discard the country’s education reform policy to teach vernacular.
He has also directed provincial education authorities to ensure that all Grade 8 students in primary schools continue on into Grade 9 in secondary schools and there will be no dropouts.
Both decisions have been welcomed by parents and schools. Madang government has made the decision to do away with teaching in vernacular after experiencing difficulties in implementing the policy.
The province has 164 languages, the highest in PNG, and it has been a major challenge to cater for all language groups. Chronic shortage of money and resources has made it difficult to implement the policy effectively.
Parents and teachers have also complained about their children’s poor English language skills and have urged the provincial government and education authorities to do away with vernacular education.
Governor Amet who has made education his government’s priority, has spoken out on various occasions against vernacular education.
He believes that it has contributed to the poor English language skills amongst PNG students today.
Vernacular education was introduced in the 90s as part of the education reform policy.
Education experts believed that children who started school in their vernacular and later switched to English were better able to grasp and use the language.
This was based on studies done by the National Department of Education. Another reason was to preserve the country’s 800 languages as some languages were dying out in parts of the country.
However, Madang has many languages spoken by few hundred people and it has been a challenge to set up and run so many vernacular schools.
Parents moving around for work within the province have also faced problems because their children were unable to attend schools that were in the local languages.
This has meant that children had to attend schools that used Tok Pisin, the country’s lingua franca.
The policy also did not work well for urban areas because of the mixture of language groups and cultures.
Governor Amet has also received numerous complaints from teachers, school authorities and parents about vernacular education. Teachers were mainly concerned with the bridging part of the programme in Grade 3 when students moved from vernacular to English.
Teachers said that children were having difficulties in bridging and as a result, were unable to read well in English. They said this affected their progress into higher grades.
Madang is also taking the lead this year in pushing for universal education which means that all Grade 8 students in primary schools will automatically progress to Grade 9 in secondary schools.
The provincial education authorities have been directed to ensure the policy is implemented this year. This means there will be no dropouts after primary school and secondary schools have to drastically increase their intakes.
Madang has already opened new secondary schools last year and more will be opened this year.
Governor Amet who is responsible for fast-tracking the policy has been seriously concerned that many young people in the province have not been able to complete their education to Grade 12.
While officiating at a Grade 8 graduation in a remote school last year, the Governor openly wept when he learnt that only two of the 25 graduates would continue on to secondary school. He has described the situation as a national tragedy.
In fact, the main focus of the PNG Education Reform policy was to achieve universal education for all children up to Grade 12 and there should be no dropouts. However, achieving this policy has been difficult with limited money and resources in the education sector.
Amet told a recent education seminar in Madang that many thousands of children of school age are denied their universal human right to start school because there are no schools.
“Many more thousands are forced out at very tender ages after grade 8 and just two years later many in their early teens are also forced out after grade 10.”
He said the country’s 10-year National Education Plan (2005-2014), the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) and the Medium Term Development Strategy (MTDS) all call for universal education.
He said that while in the current economic climate it is difficult to see how universal education can be achieved by 2014; every effort must be made for children to achieve a primary education.
“I believe the biggest developmental challenge facing our nation after 32 years of political independence is the education gap.
“Basic literacy and education are the building blocks for a nation’s human development. It is the basis on which we will develop our nation.
“It is the basis on which every Papua New Guinean will be able to meaningfully participate in social and economical development of our society.”
He said his view is that every PNG child of school age has the universal and constitutional right to start school and continue his or her education to the highest level possible.
He said it is the moral and legal duty and responsibility of every government to provide the education capacity for every child to continue to the highest level possible.

Court frees Chinese illegals


Court frees ‘illegal’ Chinese workers at Ramu Nickel

A magisterial court in PNG has freed 178 non citizen workers at Ramu Nickel project who had been arrested last year for working illegally in the country.
The Chinese workers were arrested in a special joint operation carried out by the Department of Labour and Employment, PNG Immigration and the PNG Trans-National Crime unit in November. The workers were based at the Refinery site at Basamuk, the mine site at Kurumbukari and at the headquarters in Madang province.
The operation was carried out following complaints alleging that the Chinese workers were being brought into the country without following proper immigration processes and were also working without proper visas and work permits.
Chief Magistrate John Numapo handed down the decision to free the workers at the Madang District court on December 17 after finding that the workers were brought into the country to work under a government to government agreement between PNG and China.
A court official said there was an understanding that the Chinese workers were allowed into the country to work on tourist and business visas while their proper work permits and visas were processed over a period of six or seven months.
The government departments have however, been too slow in processing and issuing the proper documents.
The joint operation by the government officers to arrest the Chinese workers caught the PNG politicians and Ramu Nickel officials by surprise.
The PNG Post-Courier newspaper reported last year that Labour and Industrial Relations Minister Mark Maipakai had written to his Department Secretary David Tibu advising him that his actions were not in line with the Somare-Temu Government’s intention especially on the Ramu Nickel Mine.
The paper reported that other prominent politicians had also contacted the department asking them to be lenient on the Chinese because the multi-million Ramu Nickel mine was one of the biggest projects in the country.
President of MCC Madam Luo Shu also warned that the operation had ‘disrupted construction work and sullied the reputation of the developer and the PNG Mining Industry’.
She said the development of the mine has been hampered by the slowness of government agencies to process work permit applications and work visas of which 266 were still outstanding at various agencies.
She pointed out that under the contractual agreement between the PNG State and the project; the government agencies were obliged to “expeditiously …. grant permits and multiple entry visas, as required, for the entry and reentry of expatriate workers (and their dependents) whose job descriptions have been approved”.
She also said a number of those personnel holding business visas were conducting brief site investigations for equipment debugging/commission which she said were permitted under business visas.
A Senior Labor Department official told the Post-Courier newspaper that the Chinese apprehended there were working illegally as they did not have work permits and visas while some were employed on business visas or with expired business visas.
He alleged that most of those apprehended came into the country as engineers and technicians but were working on site as drivers, cooks, cleaners and carpenters. The officer said under the Foreign Employment Act one can not be employed while on a business visa.

Violencde against Asians


22 May 2009

Widespread violence against Asians has flared up across Papua New Guinea resulting in destruction and looting of Asian shops and the death of three local people.
The rapid spread of the violence beginning with a rampage at the Ramu Nickel Refinery site at Basamuk, and followed by rioting and looting in six provincial capitals of the country has surprised the authorities, including the police.
The country’s National Parliament has agreed to set up a special bi-partitioned committee to investigate the unrest while leaders have tried to make sense of the events.
Acting Prime Minister Dr Puka Temu has condemned the violence and apologised to Asian business that have been victimized. Dr Temu said: “While our Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare is overseas trying to lure investors to our country, here we have a handful of hooligans and opportunists doing the exact opposite”.
However, resentment against the influx of Asians and the way the PNG government has handled the issue has been growing amongst ordinary Papua New Guineans for some years now.
Four days before the riots in the capital cities and towns, workers at the giant Chinese owned Ramu Nickel project in Madang went on a rampage following an accident that has left a Papua New Guinean worker with permanent injuries.
The incident happened on Friday May 8 when workers were trying to deliver some heavy reinforcement rods uphill on a tractor driven by a Chinese worker. According to a relative of the victim, the heavy load caused the engine to stall and jerked the trailer throwing the victim off. He fell down and the tractor ran over him, seriously injuring his lower abdomen and his genitals. The incident sparked a fight between the PNG and Chinese workers which was eventually stopped. PNG workers then demanded that the injured worker be airlifted to Madang for treatment however, this did not happen further angering the local workers. Four hours after the accident, he was ferried to Madang by boat which took another two and half hours. Angry PNG workers and local villagers then went on rampage for more than two hours smashing buildings, vehicles and construction machinery and looting office equipment such as computers and radios. Five Chinese nationals were seriously injured, 33 received minor injuries, and the cost of the damage has been estimated at K11m. The seriously injured Chinese workers were airlifted by helicopter to Port Moresby for treatment at a private hospital.
PNG Mineral Resource Authority (MRA), which inspected the site after the incident, has criticized MCC for its continuous poor safety work practices. Managing Director of MRA Kepas Wali said during the stakeholders meeting in Madang that the company’s safety record was not good enough. MRA’s report to the Madang Governor’s office stated: “This incident would not have happened if there were proper safety measures on site. There is lack of safety culture and unsafe work practice.”
MCC and its contractors have a history of poor health, safety and work standards at the Refinery site and two years ago the PNG Department of Labour and Industrial Relations has threatened to shut down the operation because of breach of PNG labor and industrial regulations.
Meanwhile, four days after the Basamuk incident, a protest march was held against Asian owned businesses in Port Moresby which erupted into violence and widespread looting of shops. A day later mobs of local people in Lae, PNG’s second capital, attacked and looted Asian shops throughout the city in which a teenager was reported to have been trampled to death when police confronted the rioters. The town of Madang was next to be hit by looters however, only one shops was looted and police intervened and controlled the situation. The violence then spread into the Highlands region where Asians investments in the towns of Goroka, Mt Hagen and Wabag came under attack. Thousands of people broke into and looted shops owned by Asians and police had a hard time controlling the crowd. NBC radio in Enga reported that two men were shot dead by police in Wabag and a number of men had been injured.
While the clashes at the Ramu Nickel mine and the riots in the provincial capitals are not related, they have been caused by the same reasons. Sentiments have been building up for a long time as Papua New Guineans watched a large influx of Asians into the country to set up and run retail businesses in the major provincial capitals – especially businesses that by law should have been reserved for local people. Locals have also been concerned about how the foreigners have treated local employees over pay, working conditions and harassment of female workers. There is also suspicion of bribery of government workers, agencies and local leaders to favor and protect the Asian businesses.
The government’s special treatment of Chinese brought in to work at Ramu Nickel has also upset many Papua New Guineans. Most of the Chinese workers in the country cannot speak English yet have been issued work permits despite breaching labour and immigration laws that state that non-citizens must be proficient in the English language. The breach of these and other laws have been questioned by the Labour Department however, the PNG government has ordered the department to overlook the laws. A crack down by Labour Department last year to arrest hundreds of Chinese workers of Ramu Nickel who had been in the country without proper work permits came to nothing when a PNG magistrate’s court released all the workers. Chief Magistrate John Numapo handed down the decision to free the workers at the Madang District court after finding that the workers were brought into the country to work under a government-to-government agreement between PNG and China.
Local landowners affected by the Ramu Nickel project also have their own issues with the PNG government over the project. Landownership issues have remained outstanding for years and the national government has failed to convene a Land Titles Commission hearing to resolve the matter. Lack of funding to convene the hearings has been a major issue.
The lengthy delay in the review of the Memorandum Of Agreement (MOA) for the project caused by various reasons, has also been also been a key issue. Without an effective MOA, landowners and stakeholders have been missing out on spin-offs and compensation benefits from the project development.
Other recent developments such as the decision by the company to deviate the pipeline from the original agreement has also angered landowners who had signed the original agreements and expected compensation for their land on which the pipeline would follow.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

The festival of feathers


You would have walked past Soge Dilambe on the streets of Madang and not taken a second glance at him. Barefooted and slender built, he blends in with the crowd as he moves around with his small backpack doing business for his Dugu Ruts Resources Cooperative Society.
It is only when you ask him about his business that you realize how passionate and determined this Umboldi villager is about what he is doing. His eyes light up as he tells you about his projects which include the Rai Coast Kangal festival, the cultural museum and the new orchid farm he is building in his area.
Like many Papua New Guineans today, Soge and his people are reviving and practicing aspects of their traditional cultures in the hope of preserving them.
Having a visible ‘traditional’ culture is important in PNG, especially when ethnic groups want to maintain their history and identity in a nation of diversity. There are obvious economic benefits to be gained by this. However, many people also have noble intentions. They realize the importance of the values and wisdom that had been part of their cultures for thousands of years which had ensured the survival of their people. These cultural practices of old were important and helped to maintain social order, ensured sufficient food production, protected the environment and resources that supported their livelihood, and protected the people from external threats.
Umboldi is one of the areas along the coast of Rai Coast in Madang that has lost much of its traditional cultural practices. However, efforts are being made today by Soge and his people to revive some of the practices associated with the initiation ceremonies.
As the director of the three-year-old Rai Coast Kangal Festival, he is rallying his people and motivating them to revive the rich cultural practices that have almost died out. Kangal is the word for feather in many of Madang’s 164 languages and can also refer to a headdress made of feathers.
“My culture is dying away and I had to do something,” he said in an interview recently. He blames the Pentecostal churches who he says are responsible for banning the cultural practices and destroying the artifacts. He says the Lutherans and the Catholics who came earlier were more tolerant and did not indiscriminately ban all their cultural practices. The early churches had recognized the value in keeping the cultural practices in order to maintain social order in the society that was being destabilized by western influences.
He says that the Kangal ceremonies were related to the initiation of the youth in his area.
“While the coastal villages practiced circumcision in their initiation, we who lived in the inland areas initiated the youths and gave them the emblem of their clans”.
He says the kangal which have several emblems are part of the initiation and before the initiates exited from their ceremonial huts, their hair is groomed so that they can wear the kangals and dance.
He says unfortunately the practice has died out and the festival is trying to revive it.
The Kangal Festival is also part of a bigger project which involves the conservation of the forest areas under the Environment and Conservation Act. With the continuing destruction of forests in parts of Madang, the Umboldi people want to protect their natural environment and control the clearing of forests for subsistence and commercial farming.
He explains that there are generally three types of Kangal dances, one for the day and two for the night time. The singsing during the day is also associated with the practice of piercing of the nose and its kangals are shorter. The feathers are fixed to a comb which is thrust into the dancer’s hair. The style of song and dance is also different.
At midnight, the people dance the kongkap and the dancers paint their legs black. This is the moment when the magnificent kangal which is intricately woven into a circular shape with radiating colours of red, black and white is displayed. The large kangal is usually fixed to a pole that is carried on the back of the dancer. Only special people wear the kangal and have to prepare themselves by observing certain taboos.
The dances are also performed to celebrate new harvest from gardens and modern festive occasions such as Christmas. Those organizing the ceremonies must kill a pig for the dancers and visitors as is the custom.
He said the initiation ceremony in his area is for both boys and girls who are taught by their elders the cultural norms and values and practices of marriage and community life. He said one of the main values that have been taught traditionally is humility which he said was sadly missing today in young people.
The Kangal festival was officially launched in 2008 by the director of the National Cultural Council Dr Jacob Simet.
Last year, Madang Governor Sir Arnold Amet and his party visited the festival. Sir Arnold commended the people for their initiative and supported the festival with a contribution of K10, 000.
The festival was also attended by a tourist family all the way from Iceland who arrived in their yacht in Port Moresby and flew over to Madang. Soge said the family members were overwhelmed with the experience observing both the day and night dances.
Other local tourists from Madang town also attended after a two hour boat ride to the village.
The latest development in the Dugu Ruts project is an orchid farm. The native orchids of the area are being cultivated on a farm and will be part of the attraction for visitors in a few years time.
Again Soge’s eyes light up as he says that they are growing a specimen of orchid which the local people believe ‘sings’ in the forest. He hopes visitors can come from all over the world to view these jewels of the forest.
A cultural museum has also been built which today houses cultural artifacts such as the bird of paradise head dresses, the unique giant kundu drums made in the area that use wallaby skins and other rare artifacts.
The next Kangal Festival is scheduled to be held in May this year and those wishing to attend can contact the Madang Visitors and Cultural Bureau for more information.